United Title Challenge Slipping Away After Dour Stalemate At Ewood Park

Manchester United missed the chance to move top of the Premier League after a frustrating afternoon saw them held to a goalless draw at Blackburn.

Paul Robinson made an excellent save after Antonio Valencia had been played clean through and later held a shot from an unmarked Dimitar Berbatov.

Rovers created little but Gary Neville blocked from Steven Nzonzi late on.

United would have moved a point clear of Chelsea with victory but are one point behind having played a game more.

It was a must-win game for United, who were looking for a positive response to the twin disappointment of Premier League defeat to Chelsea and the Champions League exit at the hands of Bayern Munich.

But without the injured Wayne Rooney, the visiting team lacked a cutting edge and with four games of their league season left United must now be viewed as unlikely to end the campaign with their fourth consecutive Premier League title.

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson had stressed before the match the importance of victory and his increasingly frustrated demeanour as he prowled his technical area underlined the importance of his team finding a winning goal.

But it was never going to be an easy task against a Rovers team who have been defeated only twice at home this season and, at least until United notably increased the tempo in the closing stages, Sam Allardyce's side looked relatively comfortable.

If it was a largely forgettable afternoon for United, in their first goalless draw of the season, then there was little for the neutral to savour either.

The opening half was without a clear opening until Berbatov's delightful disguised pass played Valencia clean through on goal shortly before the break.

The ball had been gifted to Berbatov by a dreadful clearance from Robinson but the keeper quickly atoned by saving Valencia's crisp strike with his legs.

Valencia also had United's only other decent chance of the opening half after Federico Macheda, making his first start of the Premier League season, slipped the ball into his path but Robinson saved the 18-yard strike.

The largely ineffectual Nani shot wide with a curling effort, while the surly Berbatov, who played in a deep position and spent far too much times waving his arms in frustration and remonstrating with his team-mates, appeared to go down under pressure from Rovers substitute Ryan Nelsen but his penalty appeals were turned down.

Rovers started with Nikola Kalinic as the lone striker and the Croat, competing against the considerable presence of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, struggled to hold the ball up.

The only first half chance of note for the home team fell to Chris Samba, but the big defender, who later went off injured, could not generate sufficient power on his eighth minute header to trouble Edwin van der Sar.

Ferdinand, who later limped through the final minutes with what appeared to be a groin injury, horrifically dislocated a finger after 48 minutes but the defender was soon able to continue after receiving treatment.

Rovers brought on David Dunn for Brett Emerton at the break and played slightly higher up the pitch in an attempt to support Kalinic.

But, largely, the second half continued much like the first, with United enjoying the lion's share of possession but encountering a resolute Rovers defence.

Ferguson, cutting an increasingly desperate figure as he prowled his technical area, brought on Darron Gibson for Ryan Giggs and, later, Ji-Sung Park for the anonymous Macheda.

Gibson scored a stunning long-range strike against Bayern Munich but shot wide after Phil Jones's block from Berbatov's shot dropped invitingly.

Berbatov had the opportunity to underline his worth to United after the ball dropped to the unmarked striker 14 yards from goal but his strike lacked power and Robinson saved.

Rovers might have snatched an unlikely victory late on but Neville bravely threw his body in the way to block Nzonzi's strike.

Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce:
"It was a great, resilient performance and to get a point is always beneficial for our team.

"I know we have been lacking in front of goal for much of this season but we have been very good defensively and it was a another good performance defensively from us.

"United only had the one real chance before half time and we played well to limit them to that."

It was a frustrating afternoon for Berbatov and his United team-mates